The childhood vaccines They have always been a source of controversy for various reasons. Some time ago, say a few years, the vaccine coverage was extensive, with the majority of children vaccinated from those vaccines that were part of the vaccination calendar.
Children who were not vaccinated used to belong to families with few resources who went directly to the doctor and even today there are many children of this same social stratum who are not vaccinated.
However, following the trends that appeared in northern Europe a few years ago, many Spanish children, who belong to families with a high economic and cultural level, are no longer vaccinated, causing vaccination rates to decrease and, consequently, diseases that seemed almost controlled are emerging, which endangers the health of the entire population.
Measles
The clearest example is that of measles. In Babies and more We have already commented that in other countries such as the Netherlands there have been measles outbreaks in population groups opposed to vaccination, with the risk that this entails.
In Spain it also happened a few years ago, specifically in Catalonia, when all children under 12 months were vaccinated to prevent the outbreak from spreading. After controlling himself it seemed that something similar would not happen again, however this year it has happened again in Andalusia and has happened again in Catalonia.
In the outbreak in Andalusia a woman died and the number of people affected, at the end of April, was more than 500.
To put it a little in numbers, in 2004 29 cases of measles were declared, in 2005, 20 cases and in 2008, when the anti-vaccine fashion was already starting to wreak havoc, the 300 cases were exceeded. In 2011, so far this year, there have been more than 1,300 cases, five times more than last year, and there are still 6 months left until the end of the year.
In France, where it also seems that the fashion of not vaccinating children is making a dent, five people have already died and more than 300 have suffered severe pneumonia, with more than 5,000 affected. 96% of them are children and adults who had not been vaccinated or who had received a single dose.
That is to say, it was an almost eradicated disease, which is controlled almost completely if the vaccination coverage is 95%, because that 5% takes advantage of the protection granted by the rest of the children, but that when descending in percentage leaves more children exposed, increasing the risk of outbreak and epidemic.
And not only children are exposed, but also babies under 12 months, who are not vaccinated until then by calendar and the young population, between 25 and 40 years, who in their childhood were not vaccinated, because there is no vaccination universal, and that they did not catch the disease either.
Why people don't want to vaccinate from measles
Fear of the triple viral vaccine originated from the article by Andrew Wakefield, published in the prestigious magazine The Lancet, where he suggested a cause-effect relationship between the triple viral vaccine and cases of autism.
This study was reported years later as a fraud and the magazine withdrew the article. You can read more about it in the post Eva wrote on this topic.
It was shown then that the triple viral childhood vaccine was not the cause of children's autism, although there are still many parents who follow celebrities, such as Jim Carrey, who has an autistic son, who continues to defend the relationship between Vaccine and disease.
Other diseases that come back
In the United States, for example, whooping cough has returned. In 1976, only 1,000 cases were registered throughout the country and in 2004 more than 26,000 were notified. Something similar happened in Sweden: in the 1970s, with whooping cough totally controlled by high vaccine coverage, pediatricians felt it was unacceptable to continue vaccinating children for a disease that no longer occurred and stopped vaccinating pertussis. , lowering coverage from 90% in 1974 to 12% in 1979. Shortly thereafter the country declared more than 10,000 cases of pertussis a year.
In Nigeria, the polio was stopped and the result has been that of thousands of people now suffering from the disease and with permanent disabilities. In Spain, the last case dates from 1988, but if children are not vaccinated, taking into account that there are many international movements (from there to here and from here to there), the risk will increase as the unvaccinated population It becomes more numerous.
Summarizing
I said it yesterday and I repeat it today. Not vaccinating children threatens the health of the entire population and the data corroborate it. If we stop vaccinating children, diseases come back and, although few are fatal, some have a complicated, annoying course and carry a significant risk of suffering from other associated diseases.
We are in a developed country and this means that childhood vaccines, up here, are not intended to save lives (that too, because we have already commented that in France 5 people have died from measles), but especially to avoid illness, to prevent children and adults from getting sick, they enter hospitals and infect other healthy and not so healthy people, making it very difficult for them to live.
I remember a few years ago, when some parents told me not to vaccinate their children, they told me: "We have all passed measles and look, here we are" and in the face of phrases like this I have always thought the same thing, of course, those here they say it, but those who are gone will never say "well, I died ...".
Photos | Photomontage made with images of Zaldylmg and Lars Plougmann, Unicef Sverige on Flickr
In Babies and more | Why be in favor of childhood vaccines, "Vaccines are very effective in preventing disease." Interview with Carlos González (I), "Laboratories earn much more money making cough syrups, vitamins and restorative than with vaccines." Interview with Carlos González (II), Vaccines yes, vaccines no and the culture of fear
